e J 4 ^ 3 ies' floral BaEuiet mul BPiotariai 
ome t&ampxruaii. 
dressing-table. Fig. 2 is easily made; the lower 
part may be framed as shown in Fig. 1, or you may 
utilize some old washstand or even a packing-box, 
turning it, with the bottom for the hack ; then putting 
shelves within and curtains iu front, you have a place 
for clothes, brushes, shoes, or various appliances of the 
toilet. With a very little aid, I once made such a 
table ; nailed end pieces against the sides of the box, 
then two laths across the back with two strips eight 
feet long, extending upward with another lath above, 
as a brace, and also to support a long mirror, disen¬ 
tombed from the garret; from these two uprights 1 
fastened horizontal pieces, the length of half the 
depth of the box ; with another strip, uniting them 
along the front, this hood, projecting over the glass 
and tastefully draped, as shown in the illustration, 
triangular pieces of hoard, rounded across the front, 
were nailed in each of the hack corners of the lower 
part, and not only served as brackets for the toilet set, 
hut when prettily covered and dressed with narrow 
ruffles of the material used for the hangings, proved a 
beautiful addition. Aunt Carkie. 
POMPADOUR DRESSING-TABLE. 
I once saw in a furniture warehouse an elegant 
Pompadour or dressing-table of leather-colored wood 
and gilt,blue satin curtains, etc., the price $150, all of 
which was out of the question so far as my purse was 
concerned, also out of the question to one who has a 
“sense of the eternal fitness of things.” I set my 
wits to work to have one that would correspond with 
the surroundings, he pretty and very inexpensive. I 
succeeded. It is simple, elegant-looking, and cost 
hut $1. 
The frame is of wood, with a mirror in centre, two 
shelves on either side; the covering is a worn-out 
dress of white organdie, with pink rose-buds scattered 
over it. The dimensions are as follows : Height of 
table, twenty-six inches; width, eighteen inches; 
length, thirty-six inches; heighth of frame, seventy- 
eight inches ; width of glass, twenty-one inches. 
Cover the wooden frame completely with white cot¬ 
ton cloth, then put on the outside covering smoothly 
and nicely, and you will have as pretty and f'resii a 
dressing-table as any one in the land. 
I also want to tell how to make a dainty “Hair 
Receiver,” made of perforated paper, blue silk, and 
blue sewing silk. Take a piece of the perforated 
paper, ten inches long, round it at the top, and five 
inches wide ; work in cross stitch a Grecian wreath 
with light blue sewing silk an inch from the edge, and 
all around this piece of paper. Take another piece, 
four inches across or deep, and five and a half inches 
in width; work the wreath as before, and one inch 
from the edge; put this over the largo piece of 
paper, to form a pocket, at the bottom of both, large 
and small pieces of paper; gather a piece of blue 
silk to form a hag, then box pleat narrow blue 
ribbon with corded edge. Surround both hag 
and pieces of perforated paper; leave a slight 
space between Grecian wreath and the box- 
pleated ribbon. Put loops of ribbon to hang up 
by, and you have a dainty, .pretty, useful article, 
and do not put it in the “ spare chamber,” keep 
it in your ©wn, and admire it. Company is of 
secondary importance. 
Young ladies’ bedrooms are too often mere 
stopping places, sometimes utterly devoid of 
Fig. 2 .— Dressing-Table Covered and Draped. home-made “elegancies.” In this we can re¬ 
shown in a previous number, and sawing out barrel- | form without the “lords of creation ” giving per- 
chairs, pad and cover them, and arrange also a tasteful | mission. A. L. Darrah. 
and tack round it over the hangings, with gilt headed 
nails. Place similar brackets over washstand, as 
Fig. 1.—Frame op Dressing-Table. 
]f im$*j 
A TASTEFUL HOME-MADE TOILET- 
TABLE, ETC. 
With an ardent love for pretty furniture and be¬ 
longings of all kinds, I unfortunately possess hut 
limited means of satisfying them, and therefore feel 
thankful for such an opportunity of learning to make 
tasteful articles at home and cheaply, by using our 
own exertions and ingenuity. 
Now, can you tell me how to make some kind of 
a washstand and dressing-table, with other furniture, 
for a bedroom, for which I haven’t one single article 
excepting a cottage bedstead, which has a head and 
foot-hoard, hut being only of pine wood stained, has 
become very shabby. By the way,, can I renovate it 
to look a little less forlorn. Topaz. 
Ansiver —I would advise the repainting and orna¬ 
menting of the bedstead, and the making of the entire 
set to correspond. For instance, taking the bedstead, 
rub it all off, first with fine emery paper, using care to 
rub the grain of the wood, then give a coat of enamel 
paint, made by mixing zinc-lead with Damar vainish, 
and making it of any tint desired, a lavender gray, or 
sage gray, for instance. When dry, if not quite smooth, 
give a second coat; when dry, embellish with simple 
lines of color, or obtain a set of transfer designs, Do- 
calcomanie. On the grounds just mentioned, mrrs 
rose-buds are beautiful. The best method for putting 
light lines on such a surface is by means of stencil- 
plates, cutting narrow lines from a sheet of tin, and 
placing them flatly against the wood, paint in the line, 
moving the plate onward, and using care to let the 
lines unite each time. I have painted wide and high' 
walls in this manner, and always found it an easy mode. 
The floor I would cover with wood-paper., then give 
a coat of shellac varnish, and fiuish with one of copal. 
Make a bri ght rug for the centre, and one for the. bu¬ 
reau, bedstead, washstand, chairs, etc. Now as re¬ 
gards the furniture, several pretty home-made pieces 
have been offered in the Cabinet during the past few 
months, and such a washstand and drapery for the 
bedstead, with two or three cosy chairs and an otto¬ 
man to stand in front of the dressing-table would 
prove exceedingly attractive, I think, draped with 
some pretty chintz, or even calico. 
I am reminded of a charming room that I visit very 
frequently iu summer, the pretty furniture and dra¬ 
pery of which is the handiwork of a young girl of six¬ 
teen, and the latter consisting of five cent calico ! 
Yet wliat a dainty bower it is, made by her deft fingers 
and artistic taste. There is a grain of comfort for 
you! Well, this room of ours, let me advise that in 
any case a certain amount is invested iu an entire 
piece of material for draping, as expensive as 
you choose, or perhaps of coarse Swiss, for sum¬ 
mer, and calico or Tycoon reps ; for nothing im¬ 
parts such an air of cosy comfort, or airy dainti¬ 
ness as drapery, overhanging the head of the 
bed, shading dressing-table and washstand, cov¬ 
ering chairs and ottomans, and hanging as lam¬ 
brequins from mantel and bracket. Follow a 
certain plan throughout; for instance, high above 
the bedstead head-hoard nail a plain wooden 
bracket, made, perhaps, in each case, of only a 
triangular piece of wood with a half circular 
shelf nailed on it, cover with your material, and 
from it allow long full curtains to fall about the 
head of the bed ; then hem a long strip and twine it 
around the, bracket like a scarf, or cut a lambrequin 
